Becoming a Sailor

7 posts

Safety and Storms

Safety and Storms describes how we’ve adapted to challenging weather, predictable seasonal patterns, and one personal safety experience that reminded us to stay aware of our surroundings.

  1. Travel Safety in Honiara: Mugged on Skyline Road at Dawn

    Walking to the Guadalcanal dawn service, a man tried to grab Betty's bag near Koa Hill, Honiara. What happened, who helped, and our safety rules now.

  2. Parasailor Sail on a Catamaran: Downwind to French Polynesia

    How we fly our Parasailor downwind on our catamaran, why it's more forgiving than a spinnaker or Code Zero, and the Code Zero blowout that holed our hull.

  3. Preparing for a Tropical Storm: 4 Methods Sailors Used

    How cruisers in Grenada prepared for Tropical Storm Gonzalo: staying at anchor, a marina berth, sailing south, or tying into mangroves with two anchors.

  4. Ditch Bag for a Pacific Crossing: Rethinking Life Raft Gear

    Our old ditch bag was packed for quick rescue, not survival. What the books Adrift and Sea Survival taught us to pack for a Pacific crossing.

  5. Luperón Long Reads — Designing and Building a Mooring for Our 50-foot Catamaran

    How we designed and built a three-point hurricane mooring with anchor screws for our 50-foot catamaran in Luperón: design, parts, installation and cost.

  6. Hurricane Season in the Caribbean: Why We Chose Luperón

    Why we spent the 2016 hurricane season in Luperón, Dominican Republic: Chris Parker's view of its shelter, our route south, and how Matthew passed.

  7. Storm at Anchor: 35-Knot Winds in the Florida Keys

    Our first storm at anchor: a tornado watch, 35-knot winds off Tavernier, a lost fender, and a hard lesson about dinghy fuel and emergency water.